Judge's Public Hearing #2 for JCP&L's MCRP

"Because so few members of the public got to speak at the 1/25 hearing, Judge Cookson is holding another Wednesday March 29th, Brookdale Community College (Collins Arena), 5:30 PM - 11:00 PM. Official Public Notice is still coming, but please mark your calendars! Note that ONLY members of the public who did not get to speak on 1/25 will be eligible to speak here.

Why should you attend the Judge's Public Hearing on 3/29 about the JCP&L power line project? The judge needs to hear from us. She doesn't know this project like we do:* Property values will plummet. * There are serious possible health risks for thousands of residents and NJT commuters/workers.* Dangerous, invasive construction will last 2 years. Heavy equipment and helicopters within feet of thousands of homes and the NJT tracks.* Hundreds of acres of trees cut down. Navesink River compromised. Parks, playgrounds, and SCHOOLS right along the route.* Construction so close to tracks could affect rail stability, leading to NJ TRANSIT derailments. Electrical interference could cause safety signal and equipment glitches. Poles alongside tracks = increased terrorist threat.* 110-210 foot poles and wires will be visible for miles. 200 foot "fall zone" of monopoles has them landing on homes, trains, PEOPLE if they go down.

And the biggie.... WE DON'T EVEN NEED ANOTHER TRANSMISSION LINE. It won't help with power outages, which are caused by distribution line issues. We already have 2 transmission lines that have been up and running 99.99% of the time for the past 20 years; including during Irene and Sandy. JCP&L admits that themselves!

So why are they proposing it? FOLLOW THE MONEY. Transmission lines are profitable -- they have guaranteed ROI set by FERC. First Energy is grasping for money -- if they can convince the state to let them put in a new transmission line, they can laugh all the way to the bank. First Energy CEO Chuck Jones said it himself in an earnings call to his shareholders: “We continue to view the Transmission business as our primary growth platform for many years to come.” So they dust off a 30-year old transmission proposal to "modernize" the grid and toss it over to the BPU. THIS PROJECT IS ABOUT GREED, NOT NEED."